Suspicious device found on Oak Bay beach deemed a hoax

Tai Orser, his brothers and cousins have an exciting tale to tell from their spring break adventures.

Tai and company were walking on the beach at Loon Bay in Oak Bay Saturday afternoon (March 24) when they came across a suspicious looking object. “When we found it we were just curious. We looked at it and noticed that it looked really weird … it’s not every day you find a cell phone strapped to a battery charger with wires coming out of it,” the 13-year-old said.

They called their uncle over and he snapped a photo of the object with his cell phone and told the boys to back off. Tai then ran back home and asked his mother, Daisy, to call police.

“I played it down on the phone because I hadn’t seen it,” said Daisy.

Oak Bay police were glad to receive the call. “The device appeared to be an explosive consisting of a cell phone taped to a battery connected by wires to possible explosives,” said Oak Bay Const. Eric Thompson. “They did the right thing by not handling it and immediately notified their parent who called police.“

The area was secured and members from the RCMP explosives disposal and technology section attended the scene to disable the device and it did not detonate.

“The remnants are undergoing forensic examination as the investigation continues,” said Thompson.

“They did the stand-up thing and made the right call in spite of the fact that it turned out to be a hoax,” said Daisy.

“It was just instinct (not to touch it). When you see something weird like that, you just kind of know you should leave it alone,” said Tai.